By M.K. George
Rome, June 2, 2026: I was privileged to travel for two months through ten states of India—West Bengal, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Odisha, Delhi, Rajasthan, Punjab, Haryana, Uttarakhand, and Uttar Pradesh.
The days were strikingly joyful and insightful, not only because of the fascinating growth seen in these states, but also because of the growing contradictions that are often ignored. I travelled by air and road, traversed towns and villages, and mostly met students and teachers across these states.
My visit occurred around the time when President Trump had trashed India, calling her a ‘hellhole’. It turned out to be, for me, also a time for checking that claim. Are we really a ‘hellhole’?
Amazing growth in travel facilities
The few airports I used were all of international standards—clean, efficient, full of facilities, and visually a treat. I stood amazed even at the smaller airports.
The roads were the clear winner. Across the states I travelled, the roads were of international standards—highways, toll roads, and even rural roads had become convenient and comfortable.
Three years ago, I had visited a village in Jharkhand; it took two hours to cover about 30 kilometres. This time I made it in 45 minutes, with much less backache.
It is no exaggeration when reports say that over the last five years, North India has seen major growth in its road and highway network, driven by large government investments and infrastructure programmes such as the Bharatmala Project.
National highway construction across India added more than 57,000 km of highways between 2021 and 2026, with several important projects concentrated in northern states like Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Delhi, Rajasthan, Punjab, and Uttarakhand. (Maritime Gateway, 9 February 2026)
I also noticed a clear division. The upper middle class and middle class used these facilities in their own vehicles, paying high tolls along the way.
Air-conditioned buses on the highways cater mostly to the middle class and a section of the poor. Ordinary people still travel in shared autorickshaws, trucks, and sometimes even on foot.
An ordinary autorickshaw, which should carry only three passengers in most cities and towns to avoid penalties, I saw in villages carrying up to 20–25 people along with luggage. I also watched, in horror, men and women standing in small trucks, sitting on top of buses, and travelling long distances.
It is clear as daylight that the increased roads and travel facilities are mostly for the rich and the middle class. In Jharkhand and other mining areas, corporate mine owners are the main beneficiaries of the roads, while ordinary people are left breathing dust-filled air.
Flooding of saffron flags
Across these states, I found the omnipresence of saffron flags. In contrast to five years ago, when I last visited some of these places and hardly saw any saffron flags, in some parts of Jharkhand every house now had a high-flying saffron flag. A similar situation existed in Uttar Pradesh and even in other states.
Political analysts observe that the public visibility of saffron flags and related Hindu nationalist symbolism appears to have increased across parts of North India since 2024, particularly around the Ram Mandir inauguration and associated religious events, but the scale of the increase is documented mainly through media reports and observations rather than systematic official data (Times of India, 21 February 2024).
Housing and living standards
Here again, the divide was clear. In states like Punjab, Haryana, and Rajasthan, housing conditions and living standards looked much better.
However, in Jharkhand, Odisha, and parts of West Bengal through which I passed, many old mud-walled, often dilapidated structures, no more than six feet high, were still visible. The Santhal villages, of course, had artistic wall paintings even within mud structures.
From the few conversations I had, absolute poverty has reduced, but the poor remain highly visible and deeply affected.
Government school infrastructure has improved, but the quality of teaching seemed poorer, with teachers often engaged in non-educational duties rather than teaching. Hospitals and Primary Health Centres looked gorgeous in colour and appearance, but services, as those I spoke to said, remained minimal.
Development-induced displacement in real time
I had a chance to directly witness how coal mines in Jharkhand are displacing people in the name of development. While compensation is available in principle, those at the margins—without documents or labelled as encroachers—are given a pittance and told to leave.
One heart-breaking scene that refuses to leave my memory is that of a mine almost 500 feet deep, where on the edge sat a couple of women—famished, dirty, and with empty eyes—waiting for evening, when formal mining work ended.
Then, I was told, these women would crawl down and ‘illegally’ collect two or three sacks of coal, which they would carry to roadside markets and sell for their livelihood. The utter penury of those women, and the few men sitting there, still haunts me.
Hatred is real and the communal divide sharp
In Odisha, especially in Kandhamal, I heard people say that the victims of the riots no longer trust the other group.
The victims alleged that many merchants in the town encouraged and supported outside groups that ransacked and killed over 100 people (official statistics still insist on 30–40), destroyed 300–400 churches and places of worship, burned and looted 5,600–6,500 houses, and displaced between 50,000 and 75,000 people—all based on alleged involvement of Christian groups in the murder of Swami Laxmanananda Saraswati.
It was painful to see the mountains to which these victims had fled.
For the first time in my life, I saw in Punjab, Haryana, Delhi, and other areas shops with boards reading “Jhatka Meat Available,” in clear contrast to shops selling “Halal Meat.”
In many places I also saw new ghettos, with minority groups moving away from majority areas, again out of fear.
Yes, fear seems to be the predominant emotion among many I spoke to—fear of majoritarian groups, and fear of a state that is perceived as no longer secular, but religious and nationalist in practice.
Corruption in real time
Despite all the promises and assurances, corruption is alive and kicking. I heard this from many people I spoke to. Nothing moves in the bureaucracy until the right palm is greased.
It was election time in West Bengal, and when I had to cross the border, I was stopped at least three or four times and my bags were checked (I was told this was to detect illegal money being carried).
At one of these stops, I also witnessed corruption in real time—a police officer collecting money from a truck carrying waste plastics, right in front of everyone, with no fear and no remorse.
One positive observation, of course, was that he took the money and dropped it into a box in the office—a clear sign that the share of that bribe likely goes to everyone, perhaps even up to the topmost echelons.
Back to my question
Is India really the Bharat that we dream of, or a ‘hellhole’?
I must say we are still somewhere in between. The struggle must go on—the struggle for justice, equality, and peace. Unfortunately, the powers that be do not seem to be much concerned with these values.
Instead, they seem bent on creating a majoritarian state, where the privilege of the few will rule over the needs of the many. Further, as John Dayal recently observed the focus seems to be on creating a ‘spectacle’ of development, growth and plenty, while the reality is far from all those.
The warning of historian Ramachandra Guha felt real to me during these travels: “The gravest threat to India’s democracy is not its instability, but the steady drift toward majoritarianism that weakens its constitutional commitment to pluralism and equal citizenship.”
Indian Jesuit Father George Mutholil, based in Rome, serves as the Society of Jesus’ General Counsellor and Regional Assistant for South Asia. He advises on matters specific to this region while also supporting the Superior General on broader issues of governance.
(Photo by https://freerangestock.com)